As I walked into class, I saw in bold letters “RACISM” written on the board, I myself wasn’t fond of this topic. Racism was a dark part of human history, and it brings about many emotions and anger towards people that choose to be racist. One student asked the teacher “why should we hear these stories about the suffering these people went through?” She responded “If we choose to forget what happened, then we won’t know about our past, we can’t pretend like racism didn’t occur, or should we? We should remember how Africans fought and how they progressed even thought the world was against them for some time.” As I sat there listening, I conceived of the agony and the criticism given to humans just like us, and it made me feel their emotion and pain. Then realization hit, we hear very vivid and sad news reports about racism, simply not to be racist ourselves, only to indicate the reason it’s bad and inhumane. If racial discrimination was shown as, not offending anyone, then why would anyone care to check? When you describe racism, people tend to believe you, yourself believes in these matters, but what they don’t see is the picture you’re attempting to register. (US History Colonial to 1877, Fall2013) This story came to mind when I read of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Before analyzing Heart of Darkness, I would have named this book racist, completely; Conrad downgrades the Africans in the Congo without hiding it none the less. He takes very specific words to describe the Africans, but he opted not to blot out these comments. We as readers can’t specify why an author would write in the way they act, but we can opt to view the physical versus the meaning towards it. With this said, Heart of Darkness’s content is seen physical ...
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... mission” of imperialism, or is he a pioneering early critic of the blindness and cruelty of colonial practices?” It's up to you to choose your path. Will Conrad we considered a hero for writing such a compelling text, or will he be accused of racism?
Works Cited
Achebe, C. "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness." Heart of Darkness. By Joseph Conrad. Ed. Paul B. Armstrong. 4th Ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2005. 336-49. Print.
Conrad, J. Heart of Darkness. Ed. Paul B. Armstrong. 4th Ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2005. Print.
Miller, J.H. “Should we read “Heart of Darkness.” Heart of Darkness. By Joseph Conrad. Ed. Paul B. Armstrong. 4th Ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2005. 463-74. Print.
Orwell, O. “Shooting an Elephant.” One Hundred Great Essays. By Robert Diyanni. 3rd Ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2008. 531-37. Print.
Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness uses character development and character analysis to really tell the story of European colonization. Within Conrad's characters one can find both racist and colonialist views, and it is the opinion, and the interpretation of the reader which decides what Conrad is really trying to say in his work.
Watts, Cedric. 'Heart of Darkness.' The Cambridge Companion to Joseph Conrad. Ed. J.H. Stape. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. 45-62.
In the present era of decolonization, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness presents one of fiction’s strongest accounts of British imperialism. Conrad’s attitude towards imperialism and race has been the subject of much literary and historical debate. Many literary critics view Conrad as blindly accepting the arrogant attitude of the white male European and condemn Conrad to be a racist and imperialist. The other side vehemently defends Conrad, perceiving the novel to be an attack on imperialism and the colonial experience. Understanding the two viewpoints side by side provides a unique understanding that leads to a commonality that both share; the novel simply presents a criticism of colonialists in Africa.
"I don't want to bother you much with what happened to me personally,' [Conrad] began, showing in this remark the weakness of many tellers of tales who seem so often unaware of what their audience would most like to hear" (Conrad, 9). Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad's best-known work, has been examined on many bases more than I can possibly list here, but including imperialism, colonialism, and racism. I would reason that all bases of analysis are perfectly acceptable through which to critique Conrad's novella, or any piece of writing. I would reason this, were some of these bases mainly, racism not taken to an extreme level. In arguing racism, many critics seem to take Heart of Darkness as Conrad's unwavering view on Africa, Africans, life, or whatever else one may please to take it as. I, therefore, propose that Heart of Darkness be taken for what it truly is: a work of fiction set in late 19th century Europe and Africa.
The Heart of Darkness, a complex text was written by Joseph Conrad around the 19th century, when Europeans were colonizing Africa for wealth and power and were attempting to spread their culture and religion in Africa. It was also a period in which women were not allowed to participate in worldly affairs. Therefore, the text deals with issues such as racism, European imperialism, and misogyny. This essay will look at the different themes in the novel and argue whether or not The Heart of Darkness is a work of art.
Achebe, Chinua. "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness." The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: Norton, 2001. 1783-1794.
In recent years, the debate over the merits versus the racial shortcomings of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness has raged hot. Many, notably David Denby and Chinua Achebe, have come down on one side or another of the issue. I contend, with the help of the written opinions of Denby and Achebe, that Heart of Darkness, while racist in its views, is nonetheless a valuable and commendable work of art.
A. Michael. Matin. Introduction to Heart of Darkness and Selected Short Fiction. New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2008. Print.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad has been depicted as “among the half-dozen greatest short novels in the English language.” [pg.1] Chinua Achebe believes otherwise. In Chinua Achebe’s An Image of Africa: Racism is Conrad’s Heart of Darkness he simply states that, “Joseph Conrad was a thoroughgoing racist” [pg.5]
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness 3rd Ed. Ed. Robert Kimbrough. New York: Norton Critical, 1988.
* Conrad, Joseph. “Heart of Darkness” in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, M.H. Abrams, general editor. (London: W.W. Norton, 1962, 2000)
A. The Heart of Darkness. New York: Knopf, 1993. Print.
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness 3rd ed. Ed. Robert Kimbrough. New York: Norton Critical, 1988.
Heart of Darkness is a story in which racism presents itself so deliberately that, for many, the dilemma of race must be tackled before anything else in the book may be dealt with. Conrad used derogatory, outdated and offensive terminology to devaluate people’s color as savages. This use of language disturbs many readers who read this book. Although Conrad uses racist language in this book, it doesn’t mean that he is really racist. When we look at the language, we are just looking at the very surface of the story.
Achebe, Chinua. "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness." Heart of Darkness: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Sources, Essays in Criticism. 3rd ed. Ed. Robert Kimbrough. New York: W.W. Norton, 1988. 251-262.